Android N impact on Divitel media player

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Android N (SDK level 24) and Impact on Applications

The official Android N public launch date is likely coming soon, a new Developer Preview is available since Google IO 2016, being held last May. There will be a change in linking to platform libraries. Hereby we inform you about the impact on the Divitel Mediaplayer (VisualOn Onstream MediaPlayer+).

NDK Apps Linking to Platform Libraries

In the Android N release, applications will not be allowed to link against internal libraries.Per communication from Google, applications should not depend on or use native libraries that are not included in the NDK, because they can and are changed/removed from one Android release to another (such as the switch from OpenSSL to BoringSSL). There are no compatibility requirements for platform libraries not included in the NDK (and so OEMs are at liberty to change/remove them on any given device).

Additionally, Android N includes namespace changes to prevent loading of non-public APIs. If you use the NDK, you should only be using public APIs from the Android platform. Using non-public APIs in the next official release of Android can cause your applications to crash.

Impact on Android Applications

The Divitel MediaPlayer software currently relies on non-public APIs to enable features such as IOMX, Native C render (YUV render), and audio latency. Therefore, Applications powered by Divitel MediaPlayer will need to be updated to operate on devices running Android N.

Divitel action plan and implication on Applications

We have removed the dependency on non-public API’s that will no longer be accessible starting with Android N and above. Support for IOMX and Native C render features will be terminated for Android N and above, but will continue to be available for Android M and below.

The code changes are effective starting with OSMP+ v3.19.10 released on April 29th, 2016. These changes have also been backported to prior versions of OSMP+ in order to facilitate support for applications running on OSMP+ v3.16.x, v3.17.x, or v3.18.x release streams. Customer updates for backported releases are available on request.

Please contact Divitel to schedule a Divitel MediaPlayer update delivery, if your application is currently deployed using earlier version of the player.

What about Android N support status?

The above mentioned changes are in anticipation of Android N production release. Additional changes as well as coordination with our DRM Services will be required before official support for Android N.

We will provide more information on Android N production support timeline once available. Please feel free to contact your Divitel representative for clarification or additional questions.

If you have questions or something is unclear, do not hesitate to call or mail us.